Best Public Art Project (2004)

"give up" Consisting of posters and flyers wheat-pasted to metal boxes all over the Montrose, the "give up" series preaches its message of ironic apathy to all who cruise by. One poster (near Bagby and West Alabama) features a forlorn woman's face and a Pink Floyd-esque row of hammers. "SWEETNESS, I was only joking," says the message at the top. The anonymous artist's trademark "give up" at the bottom serves as both a signature and a tongue-in-cheek addendum. Another work on Westheimer and Taft is a print of a hammer banging nails into the dirt. The whole thing reeks of postmodern appropriation of communist imagery. But before you start thinking too much about the hidden meaning of the series, just remember: The whole point is to give up.